You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!

Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.

Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.

Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

* Includes complete instructions and resources for duplicating and customizing the material in the book.
* Delves into the latest versions of three popular Linux distributions: Red Hat, Slackware, and Debian GNU/Linux
* Features three usable, real-world case studies: a home user desktop system, a corporate e-commerce software development environment, and a Linux-based firewall

LINUX-BASED OPERATING SYSTEMS are extremely powerful and flexible, but unlocking that power and flexibility requires knowledge and understanding of how the sytem woks. Tuning and Customizing a Linux System goes beyond the mere basics of using and administrating Linux systems to cover how such systems are designed. Through detailed analyses of three popular Linux distributions, example configuration and administration tasks, and three real-world case studies, you will come away witha genuine mastery of Linux-based operating systems and perhaps even Unix-like systems in general.

Tuning and Customizing a Linux System is geared towards user of Linux systems who already know the basics, but aren't yet gurus. The author fills in the gap left by other books, creating a bridge from the basics of "how to" to a level of true mastery. You'll find detailed examples of what a Linux distribution sctually consists of and explore three popular distributions in detail, learning useful techniques along the way. This provides you with a complete, practical understanding of what's going on under the covers.

As with other Apress books, this book is easy to read - the language is clear and concise and the layout and headings make it easy to find the information required.

The copy I have is from 2001, this means that a few of the details in the book are now out of date. Luckily, this being Linux, information in older books is only really out of date in the case of major changes - as with IPChains/IPTables.

Personally, I would like to see more 'real world' examples in technical books. Abstract commands and situations can be helpful, but to really understand what is happening, it's useful to be able to relate someone else's experiences to your own.

I'd like to give special mention to the Firewalling section of the book - it is very difficult to post a useful IPTables script that is usable: my system is probably very different to your system and so your firewall may not fit my pc. This book discusses firewalling and explains what the commands do so that you can see why you need to do it and what you are doing. Please note though that this book is aimed at the intermediate-advanced user, so if you are a total beginner it's probably best to go with a gui firewall rather than a hand built script.

Debian users are very well covered in this book. At this time of writing, 3.0 has not long been superseded and so you can relate the sections directly to your own system.

This book is not about squeezing extra performance for your system, if that is your sole reason for buying it, you may well have wasted your money. If you want to learn where to install programs and why, this is the book for you.

Overall, I would say that this book should fit very nicely with the other books in your library. As with most Linux books, don't just get one - one book will not fit all. But as an addition to the rest of your books, you will definitely find your knowledge increasing.